1 gen 1947 anni - Taft-Hartley Act

Descrizione:

Cold War Liberalism: A combination of liberal policies that preserved the New Deal welfare state, anticommunism vilifying the Soviet Union abroad, and radicalism at home. Adopted by the Democratic Party after World War II.

Taft-Hartley Act: Law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress in 1947 that overhauled the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, placing restrictions on organized labor that made it more difficult for unions to organize workers.


As president, Harry Truman sought to position himself as Franklin Roosevelt’s successor, using the possibilities afforded by victory in World War II to expand the New Deal at home. But the crises in Europe and Asia, combined with the swift rise of anticommunism in domestic politics, forced him along a different path. Truman went down in history as a Cold Warrior rather than a New Dealer. The Cold War consensus that he ultimately embraced — that resisting communism at home and abroad was America’s foremost goal — shaped the nation’s life and politics for decades to come.


Truman and the Democratic Party of the late 1940s and early 1950s forged what historians call Cold War liberalism. They preserved the core programs of the New Deal welfare state, developed the containment policy to oppose Soviet influence throughout the world, and fought so-called subversives at home. But there would be no expansive second act for the New Deal — no national health insurance or bold initiatives to tackle poverty. Democrats adopted this combination of moderate liberal policies and anticommunism — Cold War liberalism — partly by choice and partly out of necessity. Communist victories in Eastern Europe and China, combined with several high-level espionage scandals at home, reenergized the Republican Party, which forced Truman and the Democrats to retreat to what historian Arthur Schlesinger called the “vital center.” Cold War liberalism was a practical centrist program for a turbulent era. It would take hold, but only lasted until the even more turbulent 1960s tore it asunder.

Organized labor remained a key force in the Democratic Party and played a central role in championing Cold War liberalism. Union membership swelled to more than 14 million by 1945, making labor stronger than ever politically. Determined to redeem their wartime sacrifices and to make up for government controls that kept wages low during the war, unionized workers made aggressive demands and mounted major strikes in the automobile, steel, and coal industries after the war, as they had after World War I (for the same reasons). Probusiness Republicans responded just as aggressively. In 1946 they regained control of the House in a sweeping repudiation of Democrats and promptly passed — over Truman’s veto — the Taft-Hartley Act (1947).

Taft-Hartley overhauled the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, introducing changes that gradually weakened the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. Unions especially disliked Section 14b, which allowed states to pass “right-to-work” laws prohibiting the union shop (where workers are required to belong to a union — a requirement that aids union strength). Additionally, the law forced unions to purge communists, who had been among the most successful labor organizers in the 1930s, from their ranks. Trade unions would continue to support the Democratic Party, but the labor movement would penetrate neither the largely non-union South nor the many American industries that remained unorganized. In a sense, Taft-Hartley effectively “contained” the labor movement.

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